Syndication

In November 2008, the Lord Chief Justice of Great Britain, Sir Igor Judge, sounded a warning about the generational shift occurring as web-savvy citizens accustomed to getting their information online entered the jury box. Noting the consequences of this shift for the system of trial by jury, the Lord Chief Justice observed, “If a generation is going to arrive in the jury box that is totally unused to sitting and listening but is using technology to gain the information it needs to form a judgment, that changes the whole orality tradition with which we are familiar.”

Indeed, the impact that the so-called “Generation Y” or “Millennial” population is having on society at large makes it more important than ever for lawyers to understand the effect that they are having on how they communicate to jurors. Along with “Generation X” (those born between 1965 and 1981), the members of Gen Y (those born between 1982 and 1995) comprise more than half the adult population of the United States and nearly 60 percent of the nationwide jury pool.

For nearly a decade, the leading edge of the Millennial generation – also referred to as Gen Y - has been entering the workplace in growing numbers. Their arrival has spawned books and articles which describe their generational characteristics, offer advice on how to retain and manage these younger workers, and provide guidance on ways to foster collaborative intergenerational teamwork.

Even as employers focus on ways to attract and retain today’s younger workers, they must also begin to prepare for the next imminent challenge: guiding Millennials into leadership roles. To successfully accomplish this will require capitalizing on the Millennials’ generational strengths and helping them overcome perceived weaknesses.

Introduction to Millennials

It is important to begin any analysis of generational distinctions by noting that there can be variations among members of the same generation just as there are differences between the generations. This briefing analyzes some generalized characteristics of Millennials that can be helpful as we develop this generation into successful leaders.

This year’s entering college class of 2015 was born just as the Internet took everyone onto the information highway and as Amazon began its relentless flow of books and everything else into their lives. Members of this year’s freshman class, most of them born in 1993, are the first generation to grow up taking the word “online” for granted and for whom crossing the digital divide has redefined research, original sources and access to information, changing the central experiences and methods in their lives. They have come of age as women assumed command of U.S. Navy ships, altar girls served routinely at Catholic Mass, and when everything from parents analyzing childhood maladies to their breaking up with boyfriends and girlfriends, sometimes quite publicly, have been accomplished on the Internet.

I have a business law practice dedicated to GenY entrepreneurs. Also have an Online Law Office that I am developing @ the mo

Most of my clients are twentysomethings w/ businesses/non-profits in a whole range of industries incl tech, film, agro, etc.

Why did she join Twitter?

to follow @carolynelefant & @scartierliebel so I could learn how to start my own practice;Now I share resources & learn a ton from twitterville. Its an awesome little community that I love interacting with everyday

Watch out in 2011 for the return of skin-thickening boot camps to toughen up kids and employees for the rigors of the 21st century. This new brand of take-it-square training is going to catch on like tinder in a world that just might be gentling its young people out of competitiveness. We might have educated our kids, stimulated them, taught them to care and share, and protected them from bad things, but we now have a generation, called millennials (at Euro RSCG Worldwide PR, the agency I run, we consider them to be currently 18 to 25 years old), that is smart, plugged-in and tech-savvy--but oversensitive.

Former Wall Street Journal columnist Ron Alsop calls them trophy kids, and many corporate recruiters consider them case studies in entitlement. In the workplace, this can make for a cross-generational melee: conflicts between millennials who believe the office should be egalitarian, casual and quick to reward, and boomer-managers whose buttons get pushed by their young employees' expectations of a gimme-ocracy. Another thing unwitting work cultures have had to face is not just the millennial employee but also his or her helicopter parents.

In 2007, I told "60 Minutes" that millennials could be incorrigible. ...

28th International Conference for Pre-K through University Educators, Parents and CliniciansFeb. 17-19, 2011 at the Historic Fairmont San Francisco Hotel on Nob HillPre-Conference Workshops: Feb. 16, 2011

Co-Sponsors include: School of Education, Stanford University Cognitive Control and Development Lab, University of California, Berkeley The Neuroscience Research Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara

REACHING AND TEACHING TODAY’S iGENERATION

Today’s generation of children have grown up in a fast-paced, technology-changing world that has profoundly altered the way their brains learn, think, read, socialize, and interpret information – creating a new generation of innovative, video-game playing, multitasking students. At this conference, you will discover how the digital age has changed student learning, memory, attention and social relationships, and how video games and virtual tutors are transforming teaching, education reform, and learning disorder interventions and treatments.

Learning Objectives

You Will Gain Knowledge About:

* Impact of multitasking on the brain, memory and attention * Why the digital age is altering brains, relationships and learning* How the “iGeneration” learns, thinks, feels, reads and socializes * How to transform classrooms, education and teaching in the Digital Age * Using video games and virtual worlds to improve learning and LD treatment * Ways to improve learning, memory, reading and thinking in a distracted world * The effects of the fast-pace life on student learning, disorders and achievement * Problems and potentials of social networking on schools, teens and learning

J.D. and Ph.D. Stanton Peele believes the problem with coddled young adults is only going to get worse. From his blog at Psychology Today:

[W]e have failed repeatedly to solve the biggest issues facing us. One key example appeared in the NY Times today - the coddled college student. It is one of many such problems - education, obesity, depression, addiction, the underclass - over which we can only gnash our teeth, but that never change.

The "Room for Debate" question for the day was, "Have Freshmen Changed?" Of course, our own Hara Marano - who was one of the contributors - has highlighted this issue in her landmark work, "A Nation of Wimps." But - contrary to the "debate" in the title - all six contributors answered in the affirmative to the question, "Are helicopter parents making it harder for students to transition to life on campus?"

Hara would like parents to make their children more self-reliant. That won't happen in this world. And the contributors, while all bemoaning the problem, make clear why this is so. Here are the five types of reasons for this stasis:

Christina Totfalusi Blake, a 29-year-old attorney, feels lucky to have a job, particularly one that provides the attributes most Gen Y workers value – meaningful work, opportunities for learning, quality of life and likable colleagues.

Blake joined Kelley, Kronenberg, Gilmartin, Fichtel, Wander, Bamdas, Escalyo and Dunbrack in Miami Lakes, Fla., after working solo in Orlando for two years. She views her workplace as a social hub where collaboration has value.

"There's an open-door policy, so I can chat with other attorneys," she said. "For me, brainstorming, having senior associates to bounce ideas off, is huge. It's something I can't put a value on."

But Blake still wants the high salary and work-life balance. "Young attorneys are taking lower-paying jobs for the same long hours," she said. "But our hopes are still there – in light of our student loans and high debt – that compensation will go back up."

They’ve been called high-maintenance and self-centered, lacking in many of the skills older generations take for granted. Yet they’re also noted for being creative, energetic, resourceful and collaborative. They are your new lawyers, and they cannot be ignored. In fact, if you manage things right, they’ll be an impetus for positive change throughout your firm. So how can you tap into their better traits?

Th theme of this edition is Professional Development: Building Talent. Other feature articles include:

"Leadership Development: Should Your Firm Invest in Growing Its Leaders?" The painful law firm failures of the past few years have placed the issue of leadership squarely in the spotlight. Now firm leaders must seriously consider these questions: Should we invest in developing leadership skills in our lawyers? If no, why not? If yes, what, who, when and how?